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Free doses of vaccines offered by Indian government blow to Russia's Sputnik V

The Economic Times reported according to Reuters that some of India's private hospitals have cancelled orders for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine as they struggle to sell COVID-19 shots amid surging supplies of free doses of other vaccines offered by the government.
According to the report, some industry officials said low demand and the extremely cold storage temperatures required have spurred at least three big hospitals to cancel orders for Sputnik V, sold only on the private market in the world's biggest producer of vaccines.
"With storage and everything, we have cancelled our order for 2,500 doses," said Jitendra Oswal, a senior medical official at Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College and Hospital in the western city of Pune.

"Demand is also not great. There is a class of people, barely 1%, that wanted to go for Sputnik. For the rest, anything would do."
From May until last week, private hospitals doled out just about 6% of all vaccines administered in India, although the government had freed them to buy up to a quarter of domestic output, health ministry data show.
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Since a June launch event by Indian distributor Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd only 943,000 doses of Sputnik V have been administered by hospitals, a fraction of the national total of more than 876 million.
Dr. Reddy's declined to comment.
The mainstay of India's inoculation drive is the AstraZeneca
NSE 1.03 % vaccine, which can be stored in regular refrigerators, unlike Sputnik V, which needs temperatures of -18 degrees Celsius (-0.4°F), impossible to guarantee in most of India.
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The vaccine is also as much as 47% more expensive than AstraZeneca on the private market.
Avis Hospitals, which runs eight vaccination centres in the southern city of Hyderabad, has also cancelled an order for 10,000 Sputnik V doses, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter who sought anonymity in discussing business matters.
Avis did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Another Pune hospital, which declined to be identified in order to keep intact its ties to Dr. Reddy's, which is also a major drug supplier, said it had also cancelled its Sputnik V orders.
Sputnik V is just one of the vaccines suffering from a sharp fall in private sales.
Oswal said, Pune's Bharati hospital will end its COVID-19 vaccination programme when it runs out of AstraZeneca doses, as daily inoculations have fallen about 90% to 100, since private sales picked up in May and June.
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Just 9,000 doses remain of stocks of 62,000 it ordered.
The source said, Avis's COVID-19 vaccine sales have shrunk 40% with existing stocks expected to last until December, instead of October.
India's monthly production of vaccine, mainly of the AstraZeneca shot known domestically as Covishield, has quadrupled to 300 million doses from April, when a dramatic surge in infections and deaths prompted a halt in exports.
Overseas sales are to resume in October.
Covishield accounts for 88% of India's inoculations, followed by Bharat Biotech's domestically developed Covaxin, both administered free, mainly at government centres, since mid-January.
Source: economictimes
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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